Anti-Israel bias is so strong among some that they refuse to welcome the dawn of a new era of peace in the Middle East.
By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel
While much of the world welcomed Tuesday’s signing of the historic peace accords between Israel and the gulf states of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, anti-Israel politicians and media outlets did their best to rain negativity on what is seen by any rational person as a historic development in the quest for Middle East peace.
British blogger David Collier, who keeps his finger on the pulse of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity, called out some of the critics of the peace deals.
“Of course in today’s world, where Donald Trump and Bibi Netanyahu are both portrayed as demons in a failing media, there were many on the left side of the political spectrum who found clever ways to avoid joining the party,” Collier noted in his blog.
Collier noted that UK Labour party’s top anti-Israel crusader Jeremy Corbyn, “who never misses an opportunity to comment on Israel when he can demonize it,” ignored the historic agreement.
Journalists such as Aaron Rupar of Vox.com knocked the peace deal and as of Wednesday had 12,500 likes for tweeting: “Reality check: Israel has never gone to war with UAE or Bahrain.”
“This attempt to say that because UAE/Bahraini soldiers are not facing Israeli soldiers on a battlefield, then it doesn’t count. Many leftist cranks pushed this line,” Collier said, noting that the tweet “entirely misreads the history and geo-politics of the region.”
TV viewers caught Sky News anchor Mark Austin citing the “huge human rights issues” of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and then asking veteran Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi in a live interview: “you’re happy to do deals with these countries, are you?” to which Hanegbi immediately replied: “I think that your country is doing the same deals with them. I don’t think that the United Kingdom is boycotting Saudi Arabia, am I right?”
“Suggesting Israel alone, from all the world’s nations should not sign a deal with the Gulf States is ludicrous in the extreme,” Collier said. “If every nation in the world has a diplomatic relationship with the UAE, why does it only bother them when Israel reaches out?”
Collier then exposed other attempts to slander the peace deals with the “it’s-just-an-arms-deal” argument saying it was only done so the U.S. could sell more weapons, ignoring statements by both Israel and Gulf leaders that they want to give their peoples the benefits of peace.
They also ignore the fact that before Trump, the Obama administration sold the Arabs and Israel billions in U.S. arms.
Others called the peace deals “an election stunt” because the November U.S. election is only two months away, ignoring the fact that the relations between Israel and the Gulf states have been built on years of hard diplomatic work that is culminating this year.
And as for Israel and the Arabs “ignoring” the Palestinians by making separate peace deals?
Instead of demanding a spot at the negotiating table, the Palestinians responded to the signing ceremony by firing rockets at Israeli civilians from Gaza.
“The peace deal yesterday was not Trump’s or Netanyahu’s, it was ours. The people of Israel, the UAE and Bahrain along with all those globally who support peace,” Collier said. “If this was Clinton and Rabin, the media would still be rolling the cameras. They’ve forgotten what it means to report news.”